Intercultural Readiness Self Assessment

Intercultural Readiness Self Assessment

The first column itemizes personal characteristics that are helpful for cross-cultural interactions.
Evaluate your own current intercultural readiness on a scale of 1-100.
Also set a target for day when this Overseas Immersion Programme (OIP) in Wuhan, China ends. Do this honestly and intuitively.

Characteristic:
Current self estimate
Score: 1-100

Target upon completion of Wuhan, China OIP:
Score: 1-100
Comments

Open-mindedness

Characteristic: Current self estimate : 55

Target upon completion of Wuhan, China OIP: 85
I hope to be more receptive to new ideas, solutions and new information around me so that I am able to expose myself further instead of looking at things at a narrow perspective. This would ensure that I would be able o develop a open minded impartiality mindset.
Respect for other beliefs

Characteristic: Current self estimate :65

Target upon completion of Wuhan, China OIP: 85

Being a Singaporean, we would need to learn how to respect one another’s beliefs. If respect of one another’s cultures and beliefs were to fade away, tensions would start to rise. This does not apply to Singapore’s context, but globally as well.

Trust in other people

Characteristic: Current self estimate :60

Target upon completion of Wuhan, China OIP: 75

Trust is very important, especially in Group Work. To ensure that team cohesion is always strong, there always has to be a strong bond among one another. For this develop, trust among one another should gradually improve.

Tolerance for discomfort

Characteristic: Current self estimate :65

Target upon completion of Wuhan, China OIP: 85

Being able to live in another country’s living condition is certainly very hard. They may not be the same as in our household back at home. It certainly would take some time for us to adapt to it, At time, they may not be pleasing at all. One example would be the squatting toilets in the Hostel.

Tolerance for ambiguity

Characteristic: Current self estimate :45

Target upon completion of Wuhan, China OIP: 75

Uncertainties occur all the time. How we manage them is the most important thing. Unexpected things are bound to occur, anywhere, anytime.

Patience

Characteristic: Current self estimate :65

Target upon completion of Wuhan, China OIP: 85

At times, I can be too impatient in getting things done, though I realize that some things take time to complete. Patience is very crucial, especially in a foreign country. It would certainly be hard to get things done as fast than home. Thus, often patience is vital in achieving our goals.

Sense of personal control

Characteristic: Current self estimate :50

Target upon completion of Wuhan, China OIP: 80

Personal Control in a foreign country is very important, as usually one would be living alone in a hostel environment. We would have to be very careful on various areas such as Finance, Accomodation, Food and many more.

Interpersonal skills

Characteristic: Current self estimate :45

Target upon completion of Wuhan, China OIP: 90

Interpersonal Skills are very Crucial indeed as effective communication to give a good impression among one another, especially with people from other countries. They would tend to respect you more based on the way we portray ourselves. Thus, interpersonal skills are very important indeed

Willingness to take initiative

Characteristic: Current self estimate :55

Target upon completion of Wuhan, China OIP: 90

Taking Initiative allows someone to do things which are not required of them to do so, but would help them understand better, (in the context of academics). By doing so, he/she would be helping themselves and those around them.

Willingness to take risks

Characteristic: Current self estimate :35

Target upon completion of Wuhan, China OIP: 75

I am usually the type of person who goes by the book, having a narrow minded approach. I often tend to go by the safe path as I would be less vulnerable from falling off the right path. If I were to take risks, I would constantly be worried of whether my approach was right or wrong. This would tend to affect my performance after a while, or it even may cause a much greater impact as well, which could be quite disastrous.

Sense of humor

Characteristic: Current self estimate :20

Target upon completion of Wuhan, China OIP: 65

This Is one of the areas that I would need a lot of improvement as I am usually a stiff person who hardly jokes around, and always focusing on work alone. There should always be a balance in life. Too much work or too much play would irreversible damage to one’s life.

Curiosity about other cultures

Characteristic: Current self estimate :45

Target upon completion of Wuhan, China OIP: 75

Being in China, allows me to explore more about the different cultures such as Taoism, Buddhism and many more. After all, China is the birthplace of most of the religions practiced in the world today. I am also able to learn about the links among these religions such as the links between Hinduism and Buddhism. This allows me to explore more in depth of my religion as well.

Comfort level with strangers

Characteristic: Current self estimate :35

Target upon completion of Wuhan, China OIP: 70

I have not attained the level of confidence to speak with an individual I don’t really know. In life, most of the people we meet In our daily life are strangers. I would have to build up my level of confidence and my comfort level with Strangers.

Conclusion

It is certainly not possible to attain 100 upon 100 for any of these aspects indicated here, especially within a short period of 6 weeks. What can be done instead is to improve whatever areas/characteristic that I am lacking in. This would certainly help me to become a better person as a whole instead. The change may not be instantaneous as such matters take time to settle in our daily lives, but if we were to constantly change ourselves, the change would come naturally